DUSHANBE, January 12 2009, Asia-Plus — Along with people from the world residents of Tajikistan may vote national and multinational nominees qualified to participate in the New7Wonder of Nature competition.
Tajikistan has nominated the Kara-Kul Lake for the competition. Besides, it jointly with Kyrgyzstan has also nominated Lenin Peak on the border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (in Tajikistan, it was renamed Qullai Istiqlol (Independence Peak) in July 2006) to be chosen as one of seven natural wonders.
The Internet competition, New7Wonders of Nature, a contemporary effort to create a list of seven natural wonders chosen by people through a global poll, has been organized by a Swiss-based New Open World Corporation (NOWC), after its success in organizing the New Seven Wonders of the World, which where chosen by more than 100 million votes in the first-ever global campaign.
261 qualified national and multinational nominees are now competing to make it to the top 77. Voting for nominees will continue through July 7, 2009. Then the New7Wonders of Nature Panel of Experts, under the leadership of Prof. Federico Mayor, the longest-standing former Director-General of UNESCO, will review the top 77 nominees and choose the 21 finalists, to be announced on 21 July 2009.
The 21 finalists will then be put to popular vote. The final declaration of the New7Wonders of Nature will be in 2011
Kara-Kul or Qarokul is a 25-kilometer diameter endorheic lake in Gorno Badakhshan, which lies at an altitude of 3,900 meters above mean sea level. A peninsula projecting from the south shore and an island off the north shore divide the lake into two basins, a smaller eastern one which is relatively shallow, between 13 to 19 meters, and a larger western one, with depths of 221 to 230 meters. It has no drainage outlet. Kara-Kul Lake lies within a circular depression interpreted as a meteorite impact crate with a rim diameter of 45 kilometers. The impact event occurred less than 5 million years ago. The Kara-Kul impact structure remained unidentified until it was discovered though studies of imagery taken from space.
Lenin Peak rises to 7,134 meters on the border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and is the second-highest point of both countries. It is the highest mountain in the Trans-Alay range of Central Asia, and in the Pamir Mountains it is exceeded only by Ismoili Somoni Peak (7,495 meters). It was thought to be the highest point in the Pamirs until 1933, when Ismoili Somoni Peak (known as Stalin Peak at the time) was climbed and found to be more than 300 meters higher (7,495 m). Lenin Peak was discovered in 1871 and originally named Mount Kaufmann after Konstatnin Kaufman, the first Governor-General of Turkistan. In 1928 the mountain was renamed after Vladimir Lenin. The peak was renamed again in July 2006 and today it is officially called in Tajik Qullai Istiqlol (Independence Peak).
